Safeway has announced it will close its Fillmore district store early next year due to theft, and during a Wednesday visit, The Standard may have seen why.
A man in a black-and-yellow Dolce & Gabbana baseball cap briskly walked through the checkout lane clutching a bulging plastic bag and a large pack of Bounty paper towels.
“Excuse me, sir, excuse me,” a cashier yelled as the man made for the exit.
Before he could escape, two security guards standing by the door stared him down, and he dropped the goods. The failed shoplifter and the guards declined to comment on the incident.
Safeway said it will close its 1335 Webster St. store Feb. 7 due to rampant theft and safety fears.
One Gardaworld private security guard, who spoke on condition of anonymity, estimated the store loses roughly $7,000 a day to shoplifters.
“It’s really bad,” the guard said. “It’s a problem.”
Commonly stolen items include cooking oil, meat, and liquor. The guard said thieves have staffers open locked liquor shelves, then take a bottle and run. They’ll also take an empty Safeway shopping bag, fill it with merchandise, and try to walk out the front entrance, pretending they already paid.
“They’re taking stuff they can sell,” the guard said.
One Safeway worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said many thieves walk through the self-checkout or steal in more clandestine ways.
Reports of theft in the Western Addition are roughly double the citywide average, according to a Standard analysis of police data. The neighborhood saw 493 larceny reports per 10,000 residents in the 12 months to Nov. 10, compared with 254 citywide during the same period. Still, theft in the neighborhood is down 6% from last year.
Safeway did not share figures on nationwide or citywide losses to retail theft. The National Retail Federation says retail theft increased from $94 billion in 2021 to $112 billion in 2022, according to a 2023 survey.
Safeway said Tuesday it is working with city departments to ensure a “smooth and secure closure” while maintaining access to neighboring businesses.
Plans to shutter the store have been discussed since January, leading to intense backlash from the local community. Elderly and disabled people claim there isn’t another major grocery store they can easily get to. Align Real Estate has said it plans to buy the site to build a project with 1,000 homes and ground-floor retail but has not said whether it intends to lease the space to another grocery store.
The nearest supermarket is the recently opened Trader Joe’s at 555 Fulton St., about half a mile away. There is no direct bus between the two sites. A Safeway just over a mile away, on Church and Market streets, is accessible via the 22 bus. But using public transit to shop can be challenging for some.
Radley Roberts, for example, lost both legs due to diabetes and uses a motorized wheelchair. The 68-year-old said having to rely on a driver or social worker to do his shopping for him is a blow to his morale as he tries to be self-reliant.
“It’s hard to get stuff on a chair and take a bus,” Roberts said. “You have to go every three days.”
Safeway customers who spoke to The Standard said the store is a lifeline.
Faye Morrison has lived in the Fillmore since she was 12. The 62-year-old is outraged at the closure and says the outcry over shoplifting is overblown.
“It’s not that bad,” she said as she scanned shelves in search of prune juice. “We got a problem with the homeless, but we got cops, we got security.”